Philosophy
Technology should be useful because people need it.
Not because someone can monetize them. Six principles run through every RTL project — some easy to promise, harder to actually hold to.
The six principles
FREE
Free
Useful technology should be available without unnecessary financial barriers. RTL projects are designed to be genuinely useful and freely available whenever possible.
PRIVATE
Private
User data belongs to the user. See the Transparency Center for exactly what each project does and doesn't collect.
OPEN
Open
Transparency and community participation matter. Development happens in the open wherever the project allows it.
ACCESSIBLE
Accessible
Technology should work for as many people as reasonably possible — keyboard, screen reader, low bandwidth, low-end hardware included.
RELIABLE
Reliable
Software should be carefully tested rather than rushed. A smaller feature set that works beats a large one that doesn't.
HUMAN
Human
Technology should serve people instead of manipulating them. No dark patterns, no artificial urgency, no attention games.
In practice
These six words are easy to put on a page. What they mean in practice is specific to each project — how RTLMusic handles your library, what RTLM does and doesn't send over the network, how account systems are built when they're unavoidable. That detail lives in the Transparency Center and on each project's own page, not just here.